


Ruins

by abetternameneeded



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25090522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abetternameneeded/pseuds/abetternameneeded
Summary: Henry finds something of Alice's in the ruins of the tower.
Kudos: 2





	Ruins

Regina looked at the ruins she stood over, chunks of stone were scattered along the ground. The clear ghost of a little girl's childhood crushed underneath the weight of the building blocks of what was once her home. The little girl was long gone. Whether dead and decayed underneath the destruction or just away remained unknown.

"Is anyone here?" Regina called. Looking for her friend's daughter. No one had seen her in years. She knew her name. But speaking the name felt wrong. Like beckoning for a ghost. There was no proof she was alive but with it came no proof that she was dead either. But so many of her things were still lodged amongst the rubble. They had no way of knowing what she would and wouldn't have taken with her. Or to notice that the chess set that Killian held the black rook to was missing. For all they knew her things had just been eroded by time, taken hostage by the elements of the wild. No response.

"Mom, look at this," Henry dug up a sheet up paper from underneath a rock. A drawing of something. A note in that small mess of a child's handwriting. [I love you, papa. -Alice.]

Wait. Alice. He hadn't known Hook's daughters name was Alice. It couldn't be the same one. Could it? Was Hook's daughter Alice in Wonderland? and other places. He heard her voice chastise him. "I didn't know her name was Alice." It made sense. She'd had the same facial expressions. A similar accent. And she'd seems so against being known for any one adventure. She seemed proud of going so many places. She'd met his questioning with a very now that he thought about it Captain Hook -esque flair. Maybe Alice and Alice in Wonderland were one and the same. But he couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, he named her after his mother."

"Do you think he'd want this?" Henry asked gesturing to the drawing.

"Maybe?" Regina offered. Henry tucked it away. He needed to talk to Hook.

They went back to camp and Regina walked off to talk to Hook first. Henry forgot about the drawing momentarily and sparred with Ella for a little bit while Regina comforted Hook.

Someone was watching. Alice in Wonderland.

"Alice? Ella this is Alice in Wonderland." She glared. He now thought he had an idea of why it bothered her so much and corrected himself. "And other places."

She asked for his help. His newfound suspicion quickly proved correct. He watched as Hook was thrown back and Alice bolted. He chased after her, assuming she'd just run through the woods but she jumped through a portal, clearly desperate to get as far away as she could.

He spoke to her. And then he and Ella went back to camp.

Hook still wasn't feeling well. But Henry waited until he was alone.

"Hey, Hook. Can we talk?"

Hook groaned from the residual pain but agreed, "Aye." The word was weakened from the wince of pain. The poisoned heart was a strong curse. That only got stronger the more you tried to ignore it. Henry couldn't imagine how anyone could be so cruel. And he knew that Alice's own mother had cursed Hook. How could anyone take away the only shred of happiness a child had? Let alone their own flesh and blood's?

"When my mom and I went and looked at the tower I found this," Henry retrieved the drawing. "Thought you might want it?"

He handed Hook the drawing. Hook looked at it, his eyes scanning the paper that had somehow survived the tower's collapse.

"She made this for me not long after the first time she beat me at chess. It's the board in the position she accomplished checkmate."

Henry was suprised that even after so long, even while in pain Hook could remeber exactly what the drawing had been for. And it wasn't for any special event it was just a normal day.

"I used to keep everything she made. Every painting, every drawing, everything. This means a lot Henry, thank-you."

"I can go look and see if there were any more that survived the towers destruction." Henry's offer wasn't empty. He would go look in a few days. Hopefully Hook would be as fully recovered as possible. His heart had grown weaker. He'd need a day or two to recover.

Hook agreed but conceded to the fact that it wasn't likely many drawings had survived total destruction of his former home. "It's okay if they didn't, now I know Alice is safe. That's all that really matters."


End file.
